Eight weeks of relentless selling, and then, quietly, a turn. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $79.15 million in net inflows on July 16, with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust leading the charge.
The market had been grinding through more than $8 billion in cumulative outflows before this reversal.
IBIT does what IBIT does
BlackRock’s IBIT holds the largest cumulative inflows and the highest assets under management of any Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. market, and July 16 was no different, with IBIT accounting for the bulk of the day’s positive flows.
These products launched in January 2024 and almost immediately became the fastest-growing ETF category in history. IBIT specifically has consistently outpaced competitors, including Fidelity’s FBTC, on both inflow volume and total AUM.
Ethereum ETFs are telling a different story
While Bitcoin was seeing fresh inflows, Ethereum ETFs moved in the opposite direction. Spot Ethereum products posted $28.04 million in net outflows on the same day.
Two days prior, on July 14, combined inflows across both Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs reached $239 million, which offered an earlier signal that institutional money was beginning to re-engage with the space after the extended outflow streak. The July 16 data confirms that trend, at least for Bitcoin, is continuing, even if Ethereum is still seeing redemptions.
What this means for investors watching the ETF market
The eight-week outflow period that preceded this rebound saw over $8 billion leave U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs. A single day of $79 million in inflows does not reverse that math, but it does change the narrative from sustained institutional exit to something more ambiguous and potentially transitional.
The Ethereum outflow is a separate risk to watch. If institutional allocators continue pulling capital from Ethereum ETFs while parking money in Bitcoin products, that bifurcation could widen the performance and liquidity gap between the two asset classes over time.
The $239 million combined figure from July 14 and the follow-through on July 16 suggest more than a one-day anomaly, but the Ethereum outflows are a reminder that the recovery, if that is what this is, remains uneven.